More possibilities available in each moment than w
by SageK
Summary: Hat Trick AU


"That's why you want me to make the hat work, isn't it?" Emma asked softly, staring up at the man who had taken her and Mary Margaret hostage, who had forced her to make a hat (of all things), who was clearly mentally unbalanced, and feeling her heart ache a little with sympathy. "You just want to take Grace home, to your world."

"It's the one world where we can be together," Jefferson replied, voice trembling ever so slightly as he gave tiny, almost subconscious nods, "Where she'll remember who I am."

His eyes were a little damp as though he were holding back tears and Emma was fairly certain hers were in the same state. "I know what it's like to be separated from your kid," she said, which prompted him to give a slight huff of acknowledgment and a twitch of a half smile.

As she stepped over to peer through the telescope again, he followed her. "Yeah, you do, don't you?"

"They can make you feel like you're losing your mind," she murmured gently, though it garnered a sharp response.

"I'm not losing my mind. I'm not crazy. This is real," he insisted as she rose to face him again. She'd learned earlier he did not like the insinuation that he was insane.

"Maybe. Maybe it is," she hurried to agree and was surprised to see a sort of desperate hope on his face at even that minor concession.

Jefferson stared down at her, standing close enough so that she could smell the lingering scent of tea and old books on his clothes, she could see the damp glisten on his full lower lip. There was something magnetic about him, she'd felt it from the moment she met him by the side of the road and though fear had buffered it, now most of that had been replaced by something she couldn't identify and the odd attraction was back. "You believe?"

"If what you say is true," she began, keeping her eyes locked on his. Attraction or not, she had to find some sort of opening, some way to get him to drop his defenses so she could get the upper hand and get herself and Mary Margaret free. "That woman in the other room is my mother and I want to believe that more than anything in the world. So maybe you're right. Maybe I need to open myself up more. Maybe if I want magic I have to start believing."

He let out a shaky breath and his head fell forwards slightly, sagging with this sort of relief. He was so close, therefore heads almost met. "So, you're going to help me? You can get it to work?"

Even with the whole hostage thing, she really feel bad about getting his hopes up . "I can try," she said, which made him give her a shaky smile and turn away. Realizing this was her chance Emma reached for the telescope.

"When will you come back?" He asked, causing Emma to stop before she'd even yanked the viewing device from its stand. "You need to take Mary Margaret back to town now, yes?"

He was standing by the hat making table, her gun in hand, but this time he was holding the barrel, extending it toward her so she could take it from him.

"You're going to let us go?" she breathed, fingers falling away from the telescope in order to reach for her weapon. It felt reassuringly good to regain the possession of her gun and she tucked it into the waistband of her pants at the small of her back. "Just like that?"

"You'll come back," he stated simply, then blinked and began to look slightly agitated. "You will come back, right?"

Having him get worked up over things would probably not end well and, honestly, she knew she would come back to see him. "Yes," she assured him, stepping forward and placing a hand on his arm. "I promise, I'll come back later, after I dropped Mary Margaret off at the station."

He searched her eyes as though looking for deception, then sighed and let his head fall forward again. On impulse, Emma allowed herself to close the small gap between them, resting her brow against his. At the contact, Jefferson shuddered and she felt his breath, hot and cinnamon scented, against her cheek. "I believe you," he murmured, fingers of one hand brushing lightly against her hip before he pulled back. "You should...go."

Blinked, then realized he slipped something into her pocket. The key. She let out a huff of a laugh and said, "I barely felt that. Am I going to find out you used to be a pickpocket?"

"No," he replied, stepping over towards his telescope to allow her unimpeded access to the door. "I've just always been good with my hands."

Trying to ignore the flush those words caused, Emma turned and hurried out to find Mary Margaret.

Tonight had been a very strange...and not in the usual strange, Storybrooke way.

Jefferson was different. This whole night was different…something had changed.

She just had no idea what that something was.

TBC….

Comments, pretty please?


End file.
